One million evacuated from Bangladesh storm

The outer bands of Cyclone Mahasen struck the southern coast of Bangladesh today, lashing remote fishing villages with heavy rain and fierce winds and forcing the evacuation of more than a million people.

The eye of the storm is expected to reach land later today, but at least 18 deaths related to Mahasen already have been reported in Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka.

The storm is on course for Bangladesh, Burma and north east India, bringing life-threatening conditions to an area with a total population of 8.2 million, according to the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Danger is particularly high for tens of thousands of displaced Rohingya people living in plastic-roofed tents and huts made of reeds in dozens of refugee camps along Burma's western coast. Driven from their homes by violence, members of the Muslim minority group refused to evacuate, distrusting an order from officials in a majority-Buddhist country where Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination.

Early today, the cyclone battered the southern Bangladesh fishing village of Khepurpara along the Bay of Bengal with 60mph winds and was heading east toward the city of Chittagong and the seafront resort town of Cox's Bazar. River ferries and boat service were suspended, and scores of factories near the choppy Bay of Bengal were closed. The military said it was keeping 22 navy ships and 19 air force helicopters at the ready.

Tens of thousands of people fled their shanty homes along the coast and packed into cyclone shelters, schools, government office buildings and some of the 300 hotels in Cox's Bazar to wait out the storm. Some brought their livestock, which took shelter outside.

A 1991 cyclone that slammed into Bangladesh from the Bay of Bengal killed an estimated 139,000 people and left millions homeless. In 2008, Burma's southern delta was devastated by Cyclone Nargis, which swept away entire farming villages and killed more than 130,000 people.

Both those cyclones were much more powerful than Cyclone Mahasen, which is rated Category 1 - the weakest level. It could hit land with maximum wind speeds of about 75mph, said Mohammad Shah Alam, director of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.

Heavy rain and storm surge could prove deadlier than the wind. Bangladesh's meteorological office said the cyclone was moving so slowly it could take a whole day for it to pass the Bangladesh coast.

The Bangladesh Ministry of Disaster Management said more than a million people had been evacuated from coastal areas. Television stations reported the deaths of two men, one of whom was crushed by a tree uprooted by the wind.